288 Memorieswho must have thought him mad, and began yelUng for help. Hisshouts soon brought a good-natured polyglot Russian, who assuredhim that all was well, and that he was simply being taken to hisdestination by the nearest way. Two or three days later I methim in Moscow in one of the churches, Ustening with rapt atten¬tion to a very dirty monk extoUing in Russian the miraculouspowers of certain relics. His journal, if he kept one, would havebeen interesting. Prince Boris Galitzin, a very smart young officer in the Chevalier-Gardes, a famous leader of cotiUons in the great houses of St. Peters¬burg, was going to Moscow with his wife at the same time as myself,and so we had agreed to meet and lionize the famous old city to¬gether. It was of course a great advantage to me, for not onlyhad I very pleasant friends, whose company was a joy, but I alsobenefited by certain special permits with which they were armed.What treasures we saw !—gold, sUver, precious stones and pearls.What holy relics did Boris have to kiss !—not that he, as an advancedGreek, had much faith in them or in their miracles ; his reverencefor them was something like that of Naaman the Syrian, when heprayed that ff he shoiUd enter the house of Rimmon with his masterleaning upon his hand, he might be forgiven for bowing himselfdown because it was a question of duty. The French in 1812 looted as much as they could, but on theirapproach the treasures and relics were sent off to Novgorod. Theymust, in spite of all precautions, have found a great deal, for thewealth of the churches is prodigious. One holy Saint stopped theirrobberies by a miracle. The ruffians were about to rifle his tombwhen the corpse slowly lifted its hand in warning. They fled,terror-stricken at the sign, but the dead hand remained raised, athreat for ever against sacrilege. It is really no matter of surprise that there should be so fewbuUdings of great antiquity, so few ancient historical monumentsin Russia. It is true that at Kief, the old capital of the GrandPrinces, Jaroslav buUt the stone church of St. Sophia in the middleof the eleventh century, about the same time as the Conqueror buUtthe Tower of London, but it was not until the middle of the seven¬teenth century that houses of stone began to be the fashion. TiU